


god save the king

by inkstainedknitter



Category: King Lear - Shakespeare
Genre: Gen, Hallucinations, Madness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-13
Updated: 2013-11-13
Packaged: 2018-01-01 09:02:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1042975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkstainedknitter/pseuds/inkstainedknitter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>albany is going mad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	god save the king

_**come with my lady hither.** _

albany doesn’t think about madness until the servant who’s followed him around since cornwall’s death grabs him by the collar and tears him away from the king. pushing him against the wall, they whisper “you’re mad, you’re mad,” before they turn tail and run down the hall. calling for servants to chase after them, _because these may be strange, unnatural times, but he is the king in everything but title, and he will not be addressed in that manner,_ albany returns to the king, offering him his arm.

when his servants return to him empty handed, he is not overly concerned. the insolent servant may well have been the king of france’s, and his most _royal_ majesty is returning to france the next morning, bearing cordelia’s body back with him, the unknown queen to be buried by her subjects as if they ever loved her.

the king howls when news of the departure reaches his ears, his screams so loud that albany’s servant scuttle, refusing to go near that part of the castle. ever since the death of his daughter, the king - while more clear headed than he has been in a long time - is frail, never venturing much past the walls of the rooms albany gave him, refusing company, and sending meals back uneaten. albany supposes that after everything the king has been through, a man of his years is allowed to be frail. he may not have his daughter’s love, or gloucester's eyes - ah, gloucester's eyes. how grateful he would be to have them now - but the king does have albany, and he will be the most _dutiful_ servant to the wretched king for as long as he is able.

_god save the king._

**Author's Note:**

> albany has gone mad. the servant and the king are both dead.


End file.
